


The letter infront of you

by miraclegarden



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Cat Cafés, Cute, Fluff, Jock! Lucas, M/M, Mutual Pining, Secret Admirer, Theatre Boy! Xiaojun, puppy love awkwardness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-17 14:36:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21056030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miraclegarden/pseuds/miraclegarden
Summary: Lucas is an awkward jock who is hopelessly crushing on the theater club president, Xiaojun, who happens to hate him 'cause of an incident in their first year involving his head and a baseball.





	The letter infront of you

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #W168

Xiaojun did not have much of an opinion on anyone or anything, not counting music and theatre that was. To him, the world was either black or white, good or bad, scary or not. 

And to him, Huang Lucas was indeed scary.

Well, it wasn’t that Lucas was scary; it’s more that he was scarily large, his long limbs flapping everywhere, so tall that he knocked off anyone who came his way, and even his voice reached the most isolated ends of their school. Xiaojun used to go about his highschool life very simply, usually focused on either his extracurricular club or studies. Definitely not on the long limbed golden boy who was always bumping to him, even if he went the extra mile to ignore him.

Xiaojun snapped out of his spiral and patted his cheeks.  _ Focus _ , he chanted inside his head. He sighed regretfully and finally stepped down the stairs to the baseball field, ignoring the boys in white and blue uniform who were practicing and focused his eyes on the people near the benches. 

The club manager, wearing their blue shirt; other players who were not playing, sitting on the green benches talking to one another; their sports teacher shouting at the players from the far side; some invested students, probably friends of them; and a group of girls holding out their phones screaming the name of the boy he was trying to avoid... 

Xiaojun quickly pushed the thought back into the depths of his head.  _ Let’s get this over with _ , and he continued to observe the field. It was a nice day at least, the sun not blazing but more of a comfortable warmth, the wind breezy and no sight of grey. With a more positive state of mind he went back to what he was initially doing, trying his best to search for his (only) friend, the school’s paper photographer, Wong Hendery. 

There he was. 

Xiaojun spotted him on the field itself, talking to the captain of the team. With his mood suddenly up at the sight of someone he was familiar with, he paced towards him, going around the field through the seats that would usually be packed during game night. 

He stopped in his track when he saw the annoying walking tower joining in to talk to his best friend.  _ Really? _ He internally whined, dropping down on the nearest chair. Mustering the best glare he could, he hoped that if he stared enough, Lucas would leave his friend, and in turn also this place.

Sadly, odds not in Xiaojun’s favor, their conversation didn’t seem to end any time soon. He looked around at the other players who had slowly gone back one by one, making the field seem larger in comparison to the three people who hadn’t left the spot. He counted to ten and took out his phone to text his blind of a best friend to ask whether they could leave now. He stared intensely at the three, hoping he would suddenly earn telepathic powers to signal his friend. 

A smile finally formed when he realised Hendery had taken out his phone and had started to look around. Xiaojun waved both of arms to show where he was, which was returned with a small wave. Hope indeed came to him, but not for long, since the other two decided to tag along, coming closer to where he stood. He tried his hardest to keep up the smile he had, instead of the frown that desperately wanted to appear.

“Hey Junnie, sorry to keep you waiting,” Hendery awkwardly laughed after sensing his best friend’s current bad mood. 

Xiaojun nodded and pointed at the exit. “Let’s just go,” he replied, not wanting to keep the other two standing there, specially the giant who was now shooting daggers in his direction. 

“Guys, this is Xiaojun, the head organizer of the play we’re having, remember?” Hendery was a bit too enthusiastic, Xiaojun thought. “And best friend, dear, these two are Mark and Lucas.” 

Being introduced to the two was the last thing Xiaojun wanted, but he still managed to give them a small smile and greeting. Soon after, Hendery started talking about photos being uploaded today and before another conversation could arise, Xiaojun poked his shoulder, only to be returned with being told to wait a second. 

Feeling a mix of frustration, anger and discomfort, he whined at his best friend, “can we please go now?”

“I’ll text you two, gotta take care of this baby,” Hendery told them, as he put his arm around the shorter one. 

“I’ll see you around, and you too, Xiaojun,” Lucas turned to him and if Xiaojun’s eyes weren’t playing around, it almost seemed like the greeting towards him was too forced. He dismissed the thought, and nodded before removing his friend’s hand and heading to the gate. 

“It took you long enough,” Xiaojun broke the silence he’d kept up while strangers were surrounding him. 

“Yeah, my bad, he kept asking about the paper and I got carried away.”

“I get it, but at least tell me to wait somewhere else next time,” Xiaojun said and pouted, “you know, far away from a certain tall being.” 

Hendery snorted at his dramatic antics. “Just because he hit you with a baseball that one time by  _ accident _ ,” he emphasized, “doesn’t make him a bad guy.” 

“Hit me?” Xiaojun tried to sound as offended as possible, “he almost killed me.” 

Hendery rolled his eyes, “sure, alright.”

Xiaojun huffed. “If there wasn’t a group of people behind me, I would’ve fallen right on my head, who knows how much worse it could have gotten!”

“You have a point there, but you’re still being a dramatic little ass. At the end of the day, that didn’t happen and you miraculously survived.” 

“Yeah, but I still got knocked out with a bruise on my forehead so big and blue that even theatre makeup wasn’t enough to cover it.” 

Hendery hummed in response. “Still doesn’t justify enough to why you hate his guts,” he stopped and looked at his friend, “I mean, he felt bad and apologized.”

“He did, but it didn’t feel sincere or anything; he just laughed weirdly and went on about how he saw me but wished I moved or something.” 

Hendery started laughing uncontrollably in response, making Xiaojun feel lost. “Why are you laughing? That was an ass thing of him to say to me.” 

“Oh god, Lucas is such an idiot,” Hendery wiped his tears and place his hand on Xiaojun’s shoulder. “Yeah, he is an idiot,” Xiaojun replied. 

“Okay, not the kind of idiot you’re making it.” 

“He just has a hard time conveying what he actually wants to say.”

“That’s weird, he has a lot of friends…. He doesn’t t seem the kind to have trouble speaking coherently.”

“Maybe he is only like that around you.”

“Me? Wow, does he hate me that much too?”

“Wait, that’s not what I mean.”

“So all the times he’s bumped into me and attempted to help around the theatre was only to get on my nerves—”

“Wait, Xiaojun, you’re going too far.”

“He broke my theatre props,” he whined loudly, stomping his foot like a toddler who needs to take a nap.

“I get that you’re frustrated, but you’re not exactly the best in making judgments.”

“I know, but if he wants anything from me, why can’t he just say it properly?”

“Maybe if you give him the chance?” Hendery suggested, again. “Look Xiaojun, Lucas may be all that, but I swear to you he isn’t. He is definitely far from what people talks about.”

Xiaojun took a moment to gather himself. He trusted his best friend with all his heart, so maybe there was a small part of him that might have misjudged him. “Yeah okay, next time I’ll  _ try  _ not to glare at him.” 

Hendery couldn’t have been any prouder of the character development Xiaojun had just exhibited. It was a small change of a way of thinking, but it was still a change. Smiling to himself the inside, Hendery already started making plans for the next step. 

“Xiaojunnie, I’ll gather some friends of mine to give extra help for the stage preparation,” Hendery said, sounding extra giddy.

“Sure, the club always needs an extra hand,” Xiaojun replied as he scrolls down his checklist on his phone before mumbling, “wait… why does that sound a bit ominous…”

—

“So that’s why _ … _ ” Xiaojun muttered to himself, staring at a group of unfamiliar faces who were also staring back at him. He usually didn’t mind having Hendery’s equally weird friends around the theatre, but this particular group was making his head hurt. Particularly the tall boy with the big eyes, whose head was peeping out from the back of the group, who was attempting to avoid his eye contact. 

_ I’m going to kill Hendery _ , he thought to himself before clapping his hands to get everyone’s attention. 

“Thank you all for coming today, especially to the volunteers who came in at such short notice,” Xiaojun announced, trying his best to remain calm and proceeding to take out his clipboard from his backpack. “I have a list of things we have to get done by today and tomorrow afternoon, respectively.” 

Xiaojun scanned the room to see if everyone had listened to him. Nodding in satisfaction, he continued talking, “as most of you already know, we divided the work load between us yesterday. If you have already forgotten, probably like Yangyang over there,” he said under his breath, earning him a chorus of laughter.

“I’ve sent out a Google Sheet invite with the complete list, so everyone can double check, good?” he asked. 

Everyone nodded in response, “okay, off you rascals go.” 

Xiaojun closed his eyes for a quick second, prepared himself for the next challenge. He cautiously moved to the baseball team, who had mysteriously volunteered out of nowhere. Xiaojun gave them a small smile before going over his list, double checking for tasks that needed extra hands. “Okay, so thank you again for coming to help and it really isn’t much to begin with. There’s just a lot of heavy duty stuff, like carrying boxes of props or building a wooden tree,” he explained to the group of athletes. “So there’s eight of you…. Every group here needs at least an extra pair of hands, so you can easily join one yourself. But I personally do need a help or two to print out the pamphlets.” 

Almost immediately one of the boys shouted, “Lucas would love to help you.” And everyone agreed, dispersing themselves to separate corners of the theatre hall. Xiaojun for a moment, was lost. In a trance of a minute, he calculated what the hell was going on and what was going happen. He got paired up with Lucas, and concluded that must have been Hendery’s doing for whatever reason. He was going to be working alongside Lucas for at least an hour (as he couldn’t be bothered to calculate the speed of the newspaper club printer) and he had to make some small talk. 

_ I have no choice but to talk to him. _

“Excuse me?” Lucas said softly, waking him up from his trance. “If you don’t want me, I could ask someone to help you.” 

Xiaojun looked up at the boy— _ what was he so tall for _ —but the thought got pushed away as soon as he saw his expression. Lucas looked awkward, out of place, somewhat uncomfortable even for Xiaojun’s standards. Soon after he realised he knew something was bothering the great Huang Lucas. For someone who was so popular and loved, why did he feel like he was going to get eaten…

_ Oh shit, is it because me? _

With an overwhelming feeling of guilt, Xiaojun tried to control his expression and softened up a bit. “Oh no, it’s alright. I was just thinking of something else,” he said, finally breaking his own silence. 

“Okay then,” Lucas replied, “so to the newspaper room?”

Lucas awkwardly pointed to the exit and Xiaojun nodded. “Let me grab the club room keys first.” 

He walked up to where he placed his backpack down and took the needed keys out, before zipping and wearing it. He gestured for Lucas to come to him and handed him a small box of things they would need: staplers, markers and clips. 

The walk to the building, thankfully, was uneventful. Xiaojun would simply nod or say yes, to whatever trivial questions Lucas was asking. And when they arrived in the room, the tall boy still followed him like a puppy. An overly hyper and enthusiastic puppy—he would say things like “okay sir,” or “roger that,” when given simple tasks like checking where the extra printing inks were. 

Xiaojun felt something peculiar about Lucas’s act, but brushed it off anyways, choosing to cover the largest table in the room with papers that were still printing, organizing them in different stacks and making sure all of them were in order. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, because the next thing he heard from Lucas, other than a disgruntled sound of ache from sitting too long, was a question.

“Hey Xiaojun, do you want to get something to drink?”

“Yeah sure,” Xiaojun replied, not bothering to look up from all the folding and stapling in front of him.

“Any preference?” Lucas asked before heading out.

“Not really,” he replied to him.

Xiaojun felt his presence leave the room, and was happy to finally find some quiet after being cooped up in this room with someone he barely knew. But he had to give credit to the jock, he wasn’t as bad as he thought he would be. 

Going back to the stacks of papers they had printed, he rested his head on the table after seeing the amount that was left. Eventually Xiaojun noticed a familiar pink envelope peeping from his bag across the room. 

_Oh, another one_, he thought. He skipped towards his bag, almost too excitedly, it had been a while since he had received something from this secret admirer. _What is it this time_, he thought, feeling and pressing on the envelope as careful as he can, trying to guess what the person decided to put in this time. A candy? Chocolate? A small lego toy? He gingerly ripped the fold open and he took out the letter first. (Always wanting to read the content and be more surprised.) Despite it being terribly cheesy, he couldn’t help but swoon over his _oh so secret_ admirer. 

I wish you could see how you shine on stage,

The stars would wish to be you,

I wish you could hear yourself as you sing,

That even the nightingale gets jealous,

How I wish I could tell you this first hand, all about the wander that is you. 

But for now I am satisfied watching the star, that is you, from afar.

_ And giving you one. _

Xiaojun examined the envelope and gasped at the gift the admirer left—it was a small bracelet with star charm. He put it on and admired it;  _ this guy really went far this time _ . In a nick of time, Lucas came back with two drinks on his hand. 

“Sorry, I took so long. I didn’t know which one to get you,” Lucas announced as he sat on his chair. 

“It’s okay, I kept myself busy enough,” he said, putting the envelope back into this bag. 

“Here you go,” Lucas handed him his drink. 

Without thinking he replied, “huh? I don’t like soda.” 

“What,” Lucas said.

“Oh sorry, I mean, it’s okay, I can still drink it.” He took the drink and mentally slapped himself because of his bluntness. 

“I’m so sorry, I could go get—” Lucas was even more fidgety than before, stammering through every word and repeating himself. 

“Look, it’s fine, my fault for not telling you, it’s no biggie.”

The tall one nodded at his reassurance and Xiaojun softened up at how small Lucas looked at the moment. H _ e’s kinda cute, despite his intimidatingly huge build. _

“Let’s finish this up before lunch,” Xiaojun said.

Right away Lucas took a stack of papers, folded a piece and handed it to him to staple. They worked well together, and soon their comfortable silence was replaced with conversation. Exchanging daily anecdotes, commenting on the messy room, telling him all about the program they were going to perform… Xiaojun was grateful to find out how much of a good listener Lucas was.

Having done this for about an hour, they were both satisfied with how much was left. Lucas stood up to stretch and took out a bag of gummy bears to share. He shyly offered some and something else caught his eyes. 

“That’s a cool bracelet, were you wearing it before?” he carefully asked.

“Well no, it was just given to me.” Xiaojun cursed the growing red on his cheeks, “it’s from someone I don’t know.” 

“Oh, so like a secret admirer?” Lucas was smiling at him.

“Something like that,” he said, refusing to lift his head up, and deciding that the bracelet was much more interesting.

“Do you have any idea who might it be?” 

Xiaojun nodded his head left to right and said no. “I thought it was just a prank at first, because the idea of someone liking me is absurd.” 

“No, why would you say that. I do like you,” Lucas said but quickly covering his mouth. “I mean, you’re a nice and cool person, of course people would crush on you.”

Lucas’s face immediately heated up and he couldn’t find anything else to say. It wasn’t helped by the fact Xiaojun was just blankly staring at him.

The silence turned awkward, and Lucas whispered sorry. Thankfully, it didn’t stay that way for long, because soon after Xiaojun’s laugher filled the room. Confused at the situation, Lucas stayed still like a statue.

“And I thought I was the most awkward person in school. Thanks for your words of comfort. It’s nice to be validated by someone who isn’t my annoying friends, and by friends, I mean Hendery.”

Lucas let out his breath and laughed a bit. “You scared me for a moment.”

“Well, I was just shocked, sorry,” Xiaojun apologized.

“It’s alright, I was just scared you would continue on hating me even more.” Lucas told him, as he picked up the last bit of folded papers to staple.

“I don’t hate you…” Xiaojun said, “but you did hit my head and acted really weirdly.” 

“Yeah, that is my fault, as you can see, I can’t talk properly.” Lucas scratched the back of his neck, trying to figure out what to say, “I’m sorry again, I forget sometimes I should act more sincerely, rather than attempt to lighten it up with a joke.”

“Hey, it’s okay, also my fault for judging you before getting to know you properly.” 

“You’re valid though, I can really act like a stereotypical dumb jock,” Lucas joked and felt proud when he made him laugh. However, this atmosphere was cut when he accidentally cut himself by holding one of the folded pamphlets.

Xiaojun shook his head in feigned disappointment, “a clumsy jock, you mean.”

He took a plaster from his pencil case and wrapped the cut finger with it. Lucas thanked him and agreed that he was indeed a clumsy, awkward jock.

Gaining the courage to ask, Lucas finally got to ask whether they were friends. Xiaojun shrugged and nodded, oblivious to the extreme happiness he’d just given him.

Packing up the last bits into a box, both hungry and exhausted, they called it a day and told each other it was a work well done. 

Lucas and Xiaojun walked back to the theatre, Xiaojun holding onto nothing, since Lucas had insisted he carried the box instead. They were both greeted by a newly decorated theatre, streams that had been put up and all the stage props painted and left to dry. 

Xiaojun clapped as loudly as he can and gathered everyone around him. He thanked his crew and volunteers for the hard work, not forgetting to remind them he needed a small group of people to help him tomorrow to carry the chairs in. 

Everyone replied with a groan, to which Xiaojun tried to console them, “come on, I know it’s a weekend, but it’ll be quick, I promise.” They reluctantly agreed, and to ease them a bit more, Xiaojun mentioned how the school’s staff already agreed to place them outside of the building when they arrive. 

—

Xiaojun should have expected this. One, it was the weekend. Two, they all probably assumed two or three would be nice enough to volunteer, resulting in no one. Three, they all— 

_ Who’s that _ , he squinted hard at the figure leaning against a wall, facing the stacks of chairs that is needed to be pushed inside. 

_ Lucas? _ he asked himself. He cautiously walked closer,  _ it is him _ , he gasped.  _ Oh shit _ , he cursed, right before he reminded himself that he shouldn’t. They had gotten a lot closer and agreed to become friends just yesterday. 

Then again, in the back of his head, he was cursing for a different reason. Xiaojun knew Lucas was attractive but he didn’t know that Lucas in casual outfits was a force to be reckoned with. Why did he have to look good simply in a grey hoodie, worn out blue denim jeans and a black jacket? 

Xiaojun stopped staring angrily at him when he realised Lucas wasn’t looking at his phone anymore but at him, waving. He returned the small wave and walked up to him. 

“Please tell me you’re not the only one here?” he asked.

“It’s just me, sorry to disappoint.” Lucas offered him a smile. 

He groaned at his reply, and took out the theatre building keys. 

“Well, at least I’m not alone, thanks for caring about my back.” 

“I would not want the school’s best director to have a broken back, days before his performance,” Lucas said, as he helped him turn on all the lights in the room. 

“Stop with the flattery and start bringing all those chairs in,” Xiaojun ordered in attempt to stop his heart from fluttering at the compliments. 

“Yes, boss,” Lucas chuckled, and walked back out to drag the stacks of metal chairs inside. 

Xiaojun would be lying if he said he wasn’t worried about having a whole day doing this alone with Lucas. _ I mean, yesterday wasn’t bad _ , he told himself. However, as the hours progressed, all worries seemed meaningless; Lucas seemed to have gotten comfortable around Xiaojun, and in turn, so did he. 

He would laugh when Lucas accidentally stubbed his toe, while the other would also laugh when Xiaojun had to sit down every five minutes between carrying and organising the placement of the chairs. Everything went well, both socializing-wise and how the theatre was looking. 

“We did this in just three hours, we make a great team, don’t we,” Lucas beamed at him, all excited at their accomplishments.

“I guess we do,” Xiaojun returned the compliments, and patted Lucas’s back. He must be dreaming, because he was sure Lucas froze for a second. Choosing to ignore that, he told him they both needed to get the box outside that was filled with cushions for the chairs, and name tags for the teachers and parents.

Nodding, Lucas basically skipped (jumped) ahead to grab the carton box by the door.  _ Why was he so suddenly excited about cushions… weird _ .

“The red ones are for teachers, parents or whoever is important while the blue ones are for students,” Xiaojun explained. “I’ll go grab the tags and tape from the props room,” he told him before walking to a back room. 

Xiaojun came back holding a bunch of laminated tags, laying them on the front most chair of the room. He eyed to the side of the room, where Lucas was continuing to place the cushions. Smiling at him, he worked on his own tasks. 

“Has it been an hour or so?” Xiaojun looked up to see Lucas towering close to him. Too shocked at their proximity, he coughed, but it only made the boy come closer to him. 

“Are you okay?” Lucas started rubbing the shorter one’s back, patting it, thinking he probably choked on something. “Do you need water, are you sick, do you want me to bring the nurse, do you have asthma?” 

“I’m fine,” Xiaojun managed to say in between coughs, “really I’m fine.”

He pushed Lucas back over the invisible wall he had just built, then he hit his chest and cleared his throat. “See, I’m fine,” Xiaojun weakly smiled, “probably just tired.” 

“We’re almost done,” Lucas took the couple of tags left, along with the double sided tape he was holding. “Just sit down and I’ll finish up in no time.” 

Tired from the weird thing that just happened, Xiaojun stayed silent and sat down. He watched Lucas place the names on the chairs, and found it cute how he did it with so much unnecessary care. 

_ Cute? _ he thought, _ oh no _ .

Well, it was okay to find things cute, right? It was just like cats, dogs, romcoms and sleeping babies, he told himself. 

The self-evaluation immediately stopped when he heard Lucas yelling in pain because he accidentally glued himself to the chair, and when he tried to get unstuck, the chair fell on him. 

“I’m fine!”

“Yeah, I believe you.”

Xiaojun giggled at him, thinking he looked like a cute overgrown retriever. 

“Three more days ‘till this hall will be filled,” he said.

“You must be really excited then.”

“I guess, it’s my final year directing and being part of it, I’m actually more nervous,” he sighed, “but still excited I guess.”

“You’ll do great,” Lucas told him, “I know you will.”

Xiaojun looked up and when he caught him already gazing at him, he broke the eye contact as quickly as he could. “H-how would you know,” his heart rate raised when he realised he had just stuttered. 

“I’ve been to all your performances the past years,” Lucas softly said.

“Really?” He was somewhat shocked by the boy’s revelation. 

Lucas smiled. “Yeah, really.” 

“You’re the last person I would expect coming to see them,” Xiaojun explained.

“Why would you say that? Is it ‘cause I’m a jock, or is it because hit your head?” 

Xiaojun took a dramatic minute to think, jokingly crossing his legs and posing as the thinking statue.

“Both,” he said it in a confident tone.

Lucas pouted at his answer and Xiaojun couldn’t help but coo at him.

“Cheer up, it’s in the past, remember,” Xiaojun beamed at him.

Lucas and Xiaojun cleared up the small bit of mess they made from today’s chore, the bits of scraps from the tape, the empty boxes, all folded up ready to recycle, and the cans of iced tea and chocolate wrapping paper. 

All finished and prepped for the play on Tuesday, Xiaojun happily locked the theatre up.

“Thanks for coming in today to help me, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you,” he sincerely told Lucas. 

“I was glad to help around here, I would have regretted to graduate without helping you.”

“You?”

“Yes, the theatre, I mean,” Lucas laughed hard at himself, tugging the strings of his hoodie.

“I’m glad, too, then. You wanna go grab dinner? My treat, as my thanks.”

“I’m sorry, I have a baseball practice soon,” he said, looking visibly upset.

“Oh,” Xiaojun lets out.

“But, maybe if you like—you’re okay with it, I mean, we can hang out tomorrow?” 

Xiaojun was immediately elated by his suggestion. “I would like that,” he replied to the overgrown puppy. 

“Let me walk you to the bus stop then,” Lucas said, “my practice is only in 30 minutes.” 

Time seemed to slow down talking to Lucas, Xiaojun observed. The tall baseball player talked so much that it seemed like he was trying to make most of every second he breathed. Xiaojun didn’t hate it, he found out; he enjoyed his presence and found himself opening up easily to Lucas. The time used to walk to the bus stop had suddenly run out and he felt weirdly saddened by it. 

“It’s okay if you don’t want to, but maybe we could exchange numbers? Or Snapchat? Or KakaoTalk?” Lucas asked.

“Yeah, sure, I could text you where and when we should meet up tomorrow.” Xiaojun took out his phone and gave Lucas his number (and Snapchat, to which he was grateful to Hendery for having talked him into downloading it).

The bus came just in time, Xiaojun got in and waved at the boy on the other side. Before even taking a seat, he heard his phone notification go off.  _ Must be Hendery _ , except it wasn’t.

**Lucas** : get home safely!!!

**Xiaojun** : Thanks

**Lucas** : and text me when you get home ^.^

**Xiaojun** : I will

**Lucas** : omg yangyang hit his face with his own bat, check snapchat

Xiaojun closed their chat to check his Snapchat, ‘from  ’lucassing ”, and giggled at the video he sent. He took a selfie of half of his face and added the caption, “ouch”. Feeling giddy and weird, he shook his head and immediately sent a message to Hendery. 

**Xiaojun** : Can you come over in an hour??

**Hendery** : Yess ofc <3

“What’s wrong Jun?” Hendery said when barging into his bedroom. 

“How do you know if you have a crush on someone?”

Hendery stayed silent for a second. “Well, depending on what kind of attraction it is, you can crush even crush on a hot passerby… Wait…”

“You like Lucas?” Hendery shouted after a dramatic second.

“I don’t know, I’m asking you.”

‘Xiaojun actually being interested in somebody, wow, amazing—”

“Please, don’t make this more weird,” he begged his best friend, slapping himself with his pillow and screaming into it. 

“Don’t be gloomy Xiaojunnie, it’s only been like what, two days? Since you’ve known him. It’s probably a small crush that’ll go away soon, I mean, it’s Lucas.”

“You’re right,” Xiaojun pulled the pillow away from his face and rested his chin there instead. 

“I know I’m right.”

“But what do you mean, he’s Lucas?” he carefully asked.

“Well, he’s hot, captain of the baseball, probably getting a sports scholarship, and he’s nice. Everyone, including me, has crushed on him at one point,” Hendery explained.

After hearing this, Xiaojun suddenly felt dishearted, though he wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like he was expecting more from the tall, hot, cute, thoughtful but clumsy boy. He sighed hard, which made Hendery’s best friend radar go off.

“Hey, it’s alright,” he ruffled and patted Xiaojun’s hair, “he never really took interest in anyone. In most of the school dances, he just accepted whoever asked him first, and no past boyfriends and girlfriends that I know of, and I know everything.” 

As if the world knew how Xiaojun was feeling, his phone’s notifications went off. 

Hendery took his phone instead. “Hey Jun, someone sent you a text.”

“I’m not in the mood anymore, I feel weird and don’t like this whole crush thing.”

“It’s just a crush, not end of the world. It’s better than the weird secret admirer you have, at least you like a person you know!”

“Hey, the guy sends cute poems, okay, and bracelets,” he mumbled at the last bit and started playing witht the gift he was still wearing.

“That is cute,” Hendery took his arm and examined the bracelet he received yesterday, “still weird, it’s been two years or so. You’d think by now he’d show up and just talk to you already.”

“I understand him now…” Xiaojun replied. “It’s scary liking someone… Ugh, Hendery, make it stop.”

“No can do. Hey, can I reply to whoever it is?” Hendery pointed at his phone on the table that kept going off. 

“Yeah, sure, it’s probably one of the drama kids asking for help finding their costumes again.”

Hendery walked up and took his phone and gasped.

“Xiaojun, you’re texting Lucas?”

“Huh? No, I mean, he asked for my number today, since I wanted to treat him for dinner because he was the only who showed up to help me today… why?”

“Dude, he’s so cute, just go date him, please.” Hendery started texting back excitedly. 

“No, he doesn’t like me in that way.”

“Well, you can seduce him tomorrow at the cute cat cafe you guys are going to.”

“Huh?” Xiaojun got up and looked over at his friend, who was looking through his phone.

He gasped at his friend’s replies to Lucas’s text on his behalf. Scolding Hendery, he slapped his phone away from him, catching it before it could fall to the ground. 

Xiaojun scrolled up at the chat he hadn’t been a part of, and saw that Lucas had sent him a selfie of him and a cat cafe in the background. He had asked Xiaojun if he wanted to have lunch here. After answering ‘yes’ (again), he immediately stated that it wasn’t him before but that he would still love to go see the cats. 

“I can’t believe you sometimes,” Xiaojun said exasperated.

“Still love me though,” Hendery was now going through his closet, “I’m picking your outfits cause we both know you can’t dress, other than your grandpa vests.”

“But I think they’re nice…” Xiaojun mumbled.

“I think so too, but it’s a date. Part of the fun is dressing nicely once in a while,” he explained.

“Fine,” Xiaojun retorted, choosing to go back to laying on his bed and continue texting Lucas. 

The boy on the other side of the line said he’d realised it wasn’t him, but that he was hoping he was talking to the right person now. With a permanent smile and weird glances from his friend rummaging through his drawers, Xiaojun texted back, saying he was really excited to see the cats tomorrow.

“Yah, Xiaojun, did you forget I’m here, ‘cause you asked and now you’re ignoring me,” Hendery laughed at the red faced state of his best friend.

“Yes—wait, I mean no, sorry.”

Hendery made a sound of disappointment and continued piling clothes on the end of the bed.

“Here are your options for tomorrow,” he gestured.

Xiaojun snapped back to the reality that was Hendery, in his room, and not Lucas on the screen of his phone.

“Yeah, thanks, Hendery, I mean it.”

His friend gave him a quick hug, and gestured Xiaojun to look at the four different outfits he had laid out. Xiaojun stood before them, telling him that he liked the black and white hoodie the most.

“Or the denim shirt,” Hendery thought out loud.

“As much as I’m thankful for this, isn’t it too much?” Xiaojun asked.

“Well, I did blackmail the baseball team, hoping that would prompt Lucas to help out on Friday, so this is partially my doing and I intend to make it successful.”

With that confession, Xiaojun quickly woke up from his shocked state, started chasing his friend hitting and shouting profanities at him, mostly in a playful manner. They calmed down once the two of them were out of breath and Hendery had promised to buy him a lifetime supply of ice cream.

—

Xiaojun felt more jittery than ever before, even more so when he was about to perform. Walking up the store, he noticed the boy already waiting there.  _ And I thought I was arriving too early _ , he said in his head. Lucas was wearing a brown top under a black denim jacket, with white furred lining.  _ Maybe I should’ve worn a jacket too _ , Xiaojun looked down at the hoodie he was wearing. 

“Hello Xiaojun,” Lucas greeted him enthusiastically, putting his phone away and smiling ever so brightly at him. 

“Hi,” he shyly replied. Although they’d been texting and snapping each other a lot since yesterday, him admitting his crush towards the taller guy still made this whole thing feel weird.

“Oh, you’re wearing your glasses again,” Lucas commented.

“Only when I’m not in school.” He pushed his glasses foreward. “How do you know I wear them?”

“I used to be your classmate in our first year,” Lucas laughed awkwardly.

“Sorry, I don’t have the best memory.”

“But you were angry at me for years for me hitting you accidentally,” he joked. 

“Hey, that’s different, it was really traumatizing,” Xiaojun whined. 

While they both laughed at the memory, Lucas put his arm around the smaller one’s shoulder, pushing him inside the cafe and telling him that he already made reservations. They took a seat at the corner, right across where they could clearly see a bunch of cats chasing each other through the tunnel that was drilled to the wall. 

Xiaojun cooed at the sight and looked down to see a couple cats playing around with the toys. He took one of the long sticks near their table and used it to gesture at the cat who was nearest to him to come closer. 

“Isn’t it adorable,” he said excitedly and made eye contact with Lucas. The boy on the other side of the table seemed to be in a daze, as if he was already looking at him. Xiaojun cocked his head, eying the guy till he got the message. 

“Sorry, you’re really cute.” Lucas, shocked at his fumbling words, corrected himself immediately, “it’s really cute, I mean.”

Xiaojun giggled at him and continued petting the cat who decided to take over his lap. Lucas took it upon himself to come forward, and sat right next to him instead, telling him that it was unfair for him to get all the cats and Lucas none.

Xiaojun shook his head at other one’s dramatic antics and turned his body towards him, knees slightly touching. He could feel himself getting hot, but tried his best to compose himself. He stopped scratching the cat and signaled Lucas to go ahead. He couldn’t help but grow more fond at the sight he witnessed; as someone whose body took up a lot of space, Lucas really was a gentle giant. He petted the cat ever so softly, and even got giggly when the small ball of fur started to meow for more attention. 

“I should really order us drinks or something,” Lucas said as he got up again. 

Xiaojun’s hands were back on the cat. “Yeah, I’m occupied at the moment.”

“I can tell, I’ll make sure not to get coffee this time, don’t worry,” Lucas said. 

“Thanks for caring,” Xiaojun rolled his eyes. 

“Your utmost welcome. So, does tea and cheese cake sound good then?” he asked, looking over the menu board. 

“Sounds great,” he answered. 

Xiaojun watched Lucas talk to the waiter and let out a sigh, then noticing that the cat had already left him. Dusting away all the cat fur that stuck to his pants and hoodie, he noticed another cat coming towards him. This time, the cat decided to simply rest on the window panel by their table, and he scratched under its chin, causing it to immediately fall asleep.

“Do all cats happen to like you, or does it just not like me,” Lucas came back with their food and drinks, placing the tray on the table and choosing to sit next to Xiaojun again, rather than across. 

Xiaojun scoffed at Lucas’s statement, telling him that he was sure there were other cats that liked him, just not here at the moment. 

They conversed comfortably, Lucas telling him how his practice went yesterday and a step-by-step story on how exactly Yangyang hit himself in the face with his own bat. Xiaojun really loved how easy it was to talk to him, and in between their conversation he wondered what it would be like if they had befriended each other earlier. He must’ve drifted off far, because Lucas was now poking his arm, asking if he was okay.

‘Yeah, just lost in thoughts,” he said.

“Am I that boring to you?” Lucas held his hand over his heart and feigned a hurt look.

“No, no,” he told him, feeling guilty. “I was just wondering why you would want to be friends with me.”

“Why would you think that way? I think you’re cool and fun to be around. I like being with you,” Lucas reassured him.

“Okay…” Xiaojun replied.

“And…” Lucas hesitated, “I guess it is my fault for not trying to talk to you earlier.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been looking at you for an embarrassing number years, but I was too much of a coward to approach you,” Lucas blurted out.

Xiaojun nodded at the sudden confession, too shocked that Lucas told him this soon. You see, he wasn’t an idiot. Xiaojun had noticed from the start Lucas acted differently, it wasn’t as obvious when they first properly met but the boy indeed was not the most subtle person out there.

(“Hey Hendery, how big is the possibility that Lucas is my secret admirer?” Xiaojun asked.

“How did you know?” Hendery exclaimed genuinely, putting his hand over his mouth. 

“Wait, so it’s true, it isn’t a joke he’s playing?” 

“No, no, definitely not a joke. He’s just stupid and can’t talk to you, like a love struck puppy,” his best friend explained.

Xiaojun continued texting back Lucas, still flustered and not comprehending why someone would like him.

“How did you find out?” Hendery asked again.

“Well, I wasn’t actually sure at first. But I got the letter and bracelet in the newspaper room and he was the only one there, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t there before that.” Xiaojun told him exactly what had happened yesterday, how he found the letter fishy, along with how Lucas was acting. Xiaojun admitted to Hendery how insecure he was about having someone like him, about the idea of him liking Lucas back and the possibilty that it was a stupid prank. 

Hendery then told him that he should just ask Lucas tomorrow, telling him it was nothing like he thought.)

Lucas heard his side of the story from Xiaojun and told himself how stupid he had been, for trusting Hendery (particularly after being blackmailed by him already). Xiaojun could now laugh freely at him, especially after noticing how flustered the tall boy was. 

“Sorry for making you think it wasn’t genuine,” Lucas confessed.

“Hey, I get it,” Xiaojun took hold of his hand, “I’m sorry for putting you on the spot.”

“I really wanted to confess sooner, but I kept chickening out every year and just sent you those embarrassing poems,” Lucas said, finally looking up to meet eyes with him. 

“I think those were very sweet,” Xiaojun genuinely told him. 

Lucas gave him a small smile. Realised they’d been holding hands the entire time, he grew red and took his hand back.

“Okay, I’m ready,” Lucas announced.

“Ready for what,” Xiaojun furrowed his eyebrows.

“To be rejected.”

“To be rejected?” he repeated in a curious tone.

“Please don’t act too nice and furrow your eyebrows too cutely, with those eyes of yours,” Lucas pulled his body back, further away from the smaller boy. 

“Why would I reject you, Lucas?”

“I—I don’t know,” he lost some of his confidence, stammering as he picked up a piece of cheese cake, in an attempt to distract himself.

“I can’t reject you, if you’re not even going to ask me out,” Xiaojun said matter-of-factly. 

“Excuse me?” Lucas couldn’t believe what he was hearing. 

“I can’t reject you—” 

“I mean, I heard you. Loud and clear, but do you mean it?”

“Why would I joke about it?” Xiaojun carefully said, noticing the way Lucas had been intensely looking at him,  _ probably trying to figure me out _ . So he took Lucas’s hands and rubbed them softly. 

“It just feels surreal. If I knew it would be this easy, I should have done it way sooner,” Lucas expressed to him. 

“So you’re saying I’m easy,” he replied playfully and laughed at the state of the boy across him. 

“No, no, of course not,” Lucas awkwardly laughed it off, gesturing his hands to defend himself. They then sat in silence, Lucas probably trying to come up with words to say to him. Xiaojun decided to give him time, and played with the cat who stood by their table. After a couple minutes, Lucas slid him a paper napkin. Xiaojun smiled at the handwriting that was so familiar to him, and read it out loud.

“I think it’s about time that I found the courage, the cat is out of the bag, so will let me take you out too?” 

Xiaojun can’t help but smile widely, Lucas on the other has a more unreadable expression. A more uncertain one, and Xiaojun knows it was ‘cause he was waiting for an answer. He took the pen that was in Lucas’s hand and turned his back to write more privately. When the deed was done, he returned both the napkin and the pen to him. 

Lucas cautiously looked at him first before reciting out loud, “The answer is yes, but please don’t hit on me too much this time.”

This time, Xiaojun was the one waiting for some kind reaction, although for a couple of seconds, the only reply he got was laughter. 

“That was so cheesy,” Lucas told him, rubbing off the tears that left his eyes from laughing so hard.

“I tried my best. Brave of you to say that, when you once wrote about how my teeth outshine the theatre lights,” he argued back. 

“Touché,” Lucas agreed.

Xiaojun observed how close they had gotten, their legs comfortably resting right next to each other, Lucas’s big hands laying flattened on his thighs. It made him play with his fingers in short fascination, before looking up and meeting Lucas’s eyes again. Xiaojun was inhaling his cologne, which emphasised to him (again) how near they were. 

He laughed on the inside when he noticed how much Lucas had to bend down for their gaze to be this close, though the thought was short circuited when he noticed Lucas had bent down even further. He immediately looked down at his lips.  _ They may be somewhat chapped, but so pretty _ , he secretly admired. 

“Can I?” Lucas asked as he held Xiaojun’s face, cradling it as softly as he can. Words were difficult to form at that moment and Xiaojun could only nod. 

Lucas first experimentally planted his lips on his and didn’t dare to go any further before the smaller one had responded. Xiaojun did soon after, settling into a steady rhythm and clasping onto the other one’s thighs, while Lucas now had both his hands resting on the crook of Xiaojun’s head and neck. 

Before anything could escalate, however… “Meow.” 

The two quickly pulled back, catching their breath. Embarrassed at their ordeal, Xiaojun looked down at the tiny creature who had disturbed them. The cat, who had been sleeping on the window panel, had woken up and decided it wanted its attention. 

“You disturbed our first kiss and now you steal my boyfriend, that’s so unfair,” Lucas whined at it.

“We’re boyfriends now?” Xiaojun sneakily asked, petting the attention-seeking kitty.

“Are we not,” Lucas huffed and crossed his arms, pouting in the process. 

“I can’t believe I’m dating an overgrown jealous puppy,” Xiaojun got up to give his new boyfriend a quick kiss on the cheek, “but yes, yes we are.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Big thanks to who wrote this adorable prompt, I really hope I did it justice. And I'm really glad to be able to write it and contribute to the currently dry xiaocas/luxiao tag. Thank you for reading this and kudos & comments would be greatly appreciated<3


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